Nicolo Melli

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Nicolo Melli

PF, New Orleans Pelicans

Nicolo Melli will not be ready for the World Cup, the Italian Basketball Federation confirmed via a press release on Tuesday.

The newly signed power forward of the Pelicans underwent knee surgery a few weeks ago, but he won't be able to recover on time for the FIBA flagship event. Italy is currently without Luigi Datome and Danilo Gallinari as well, but both of them are working hard in order to recover on time for the tournament.

Melli recently underwent a knee surgery but is expected to be healthy by the start of the season. He will attempt to make it in the NBA as a stretch big after shooting 38.5 percent from distance in his last season in the Turkish League.

Pelicans forward Nicolo Melli underwent knee surgery and will not participate in Italy’s training camp at the end of July, ahead of the FIBA World Tournament.

This comes out of nowhere and the only relative information we have is that Melli will be re-evaluated on a week-to-week basis. The Italian big should be fine for the Pelicans training camp where he will compete for the backup power forward minutes as long as the surgery is not anything too serious.

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Nicolo Melli

PF, New Orleans Pelicans

The Pelicans have agreed to a two-year, $8 million deal with Nicolo Melli.

Melli and the Pellies, as it was meant to be. The 28-year-old Italian played for Turkey's Fenerbahce last season, shooting 38.5 percent from deep and leading the team in scoring during the EuroLeague Finals. It's a nice, low-cost gamble for the Pelicans, who will be looking for a stretch four with Darius Miller potentially headed elsewhere.

Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Pelicans are working on a two-year deal with Italian forward Nicolo Melli.

The 28-year-old played for EuroLeague powerhouse Fenerbahce last season and led the team in scoring during the EuroLeague Finals. He shot 38.5 percent from deep on the year, and it’s clear that the Pelicans are looking to add some shooters to the mix this season.